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The Eve of a new year

by | Jan 1, 2011 | Uncategorized

A new year ahead of us.
A time of change.
A time for new beginnings.
A time for new commitments or habits.
Eve… a Hebrew word meaning LIFE. ( also a threshold, verge or vigil)
The evening preceding something else.
Eve… the eve of a new year.
What will our year be like?
For us…
the last year brought many changes.
A death of a dearly loved mom,
death of relationships that shattered within the context of misunderstanding,
a birth of a beautiful grandson,
new thoughts processed about life and death and living and relationships.
A new year is ahead of us.
What will your new year be for you?
Will you allow change?
Will you allow new beginnings? 
Do you have old habits to break and new commitments to make?
On this eve of a new year…
what do you want for yourself and your family?
Are there new spiritual goals to meet?
Are there new plans and accomplishments you want to see fulfilled?
On this eve of a new year
I ask you …
What do you want to write
on your blank calendar or blank wipe on/wipe off board?

As a new one begins I pray this gives you something to think about.
(winter leaves picture)

A question for you

by | Dec 28, 2010 | Uncategorized

As the Christmas season winds down and the new year begins very soon.
What will you do with this Jesus? This babe in the manger… this sweet little Jesus child?

When we gather the boxes of ornaments and other decorations and put them away back in storage.
Do we wrap this baby delicately in bubble wrap and tissue to not let him break till the next season of display in December?
The box holds a figure, a resin like image, what does your heart hold?
Can you allow this babe in a manger who came to save the world come into your heart?
This real God who came as a gift of love for a world who would not often accept him.
The nativity story is not just for Christmas it is for every day.
That is why I leave a nativity up all year long so that I can remember… the reason.
What will we do with this Jesus as we hold the resin made cherub and marvel at the innocence of the painted face.
Do we remember that he lived 33 years to die a horrible disfiguring death?
Do we remember that the face we marvel at in innocence becomes horribly beaten and un-recognizable because HE chose it? Because He knew that was the only way… 

Because he loved us so much that the plan to come in a form we would know and understand was His gift for us. There are so many reasons to be thankful for the nativity. For the Love given. For the Love shown to us on that day in the city called Bethlehem.
God reached down and touched our hearts… so we could in turn could allow our hearts to turn towards Him.
What will you do with this Jesus? that is my question for you.

Christmas.

by | Dec 25, 2010 | Uncategorized

Our first Nativity set purchased on our first Christmas 37 years ago.
Simple yet very beautiful I will always put it out and alway remember the reason for the Season.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a renewed heart.

Mary’s heart ache

by | Dec 22, 2010 | Uncategorized

Very soon after the baby Jesus was born
Mary and Joseph had to leave Bethlehem in a hurry to avoid King Herod and his rulers.
Matthew 2:13-14
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up.” he said,”take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod.
Can you imagine Mary’s heart?
A new baby is born and someone wants to kill him
what new mother wants to hear that kind of news.
This was a chosen child
the angel had told her he would be
I wonder what she was thinking as Joseph said to her “we must leave now.”
She had just given birth and her body was experiencing that recovery
and then she was told they had to leave quickly to travel nearly 200 miles on a donkey to Egypt. The road was not a paved road like we have it was rough terrain it was long and difficult and took a long time. As she traveled with Joseph her heart knew they were alone and they were running against the terror of a crazy man…King Herod.
Matthew 2:16-17
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: ” A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
I cannot even imagine her fear
in the middle of the night in the dark with only lanterns
her fatigue so heavy as they hurried quickly
her body rebelling against every movement made by the donkey.
She wouldn’t be able to walk herself for she had just had a baby
and she was tired and worn out from the last journey to Bethlehem.
Holding her infant close as he nuzzled in the curve of her arms
I wonder if she cried tears of sadness for this baby born to her.
Can you imagine how she would feel when she heard the cries of the mothers who had lost their son’s because of hers?
It was a constant hiding for Mary and Joseph as they avoided the dangerous men.
Can you imagine trying to raise your son in a place you are not familiar with and where you had no friends or family or anything that was yours?
She knew her son was special and she knew God had blessed her.
She also knew the shepherds had found them but her joy quickly turned into sorrow for the mothers weeping for their son’s.
Mary’s heart ache was only beginning.
For in the process of giving birth to her child she also was also in the process of giving him up.
The Savior was born
and it wasn’t until later in her life did Mary fully understand what that would mean.

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